Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Once More With Feeling

Summer holidays just flew by and I'm now back at school. Even though a lifetime of holidays would be wonderful, it is good to be back at school. I love how much the kids make me laugh.

This week in the high school classes, they are learning how to give advice for different health problems. We're really trying to encourage them to put lots of emotion into the conversation they are learning and to ham it up with gestures.

Last year, I taught the same lesson to my Domestic Violence class. In one group, a boy wasn't doing the gestures. His partner decided to help him feel the part. He swiftly, punched him in the head, and then with innocent eyes asked "What's wrong?" As the partner rubbed his forehead, he answered with the phrase on his worksheet "I have a headache."

That's one way to get your partner to do what the teacher asks.

4 comments:

Megane~kun said...

Oh ohh! School's back! I was waiting all summer for this!

I love just how those kids you teach make me laugh too. How many classes do you have this year? I'm looking forward to those entries!

My Jap sensei gave us the health and ailments lessons before, and all that I'm able to remember throughout the lesson was 'geri' and 'futsukayoi'.

Hee hee. And we basically had the same routine too: we asked what's wrong, partners will answer and maybe improvise a story about it, then we give recommendation. We all had to present the "mostly ad-libbed" skits in front.

It was so fun, we went way past the time!

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Hehehe.. if only my students knew just how many people they were amusing with their antics. Actually I think they'd be very happy!

I have the same 14 classes a week. My junior high kids continue to be a delight and I still love some (though sadly not all) of my high school classes).

Kathleen said...

Are you sure you want them to use gestures Melanie? By the way how is your health? Please feel free to email me to chat about it any time...no questions too silly!!!

Anonymous said...

If only my kids would behave enough to try to enjoy that kind of lesson! It's nice to hear that your kids don't degenerate into wild unruly beasts when you're trying to teach them....On the other hand, I get the feeling my school is for parents who don't want their kids in the house after school, anyway. They could give a damn whether their kids behave, and that attitude is reflected in the kids themselves every time they come to class.